The History of Mario & Co.

The story of Mario and Co. begins a long time ago, with a stork carrying Mario Mario and Luigi Mario, the soon-to-be Super Mario Bros., across the sky to be delivered to their parents in Mushroomland. Meanwhile, an evil Magikoopa known as Kamek has seen what disaster these two babies will bring to the Koopas when grown through his crystal. He immediately sets out to kidnap the babies before they are brought to their parents, so they will never be able to wreck the lives of all Koopas. He flies with lightning speed past the stork, reaching out to snatch the babies. Fortunately, he is only able to snatch one. When he discovers this, he orders his Toadies to find the other baby, Mario, and bring him back to the castle.

But exactly where is this baby? On Yoshi's Island in Dinosaur World, surrounded by all its Yoshi inhabitants, that's where. It appears he has fallen from the sky, and knows where his slightly younger brother is, thanks to special bonding communication. The Yoshies take Mario across the island to the baby King Bowser Koopa's castle via a relay system. There, they are able to free the other baby, Luigi, and the stork is able to deliver them to their parents in time. Mario even gets a best friend, Wario.

But, in fear that the evil Kamek and baby Bowser will try to kidnap them again, the Bros.' parents send them through a warp zone to Brooklyn, U.S.A. There, they are adopted by an Italian couple and are raised by them, and are lent Italian accents. They are left with no memories of their Mushroomland origination. Meanwhile, back on Yoshi's Island, Bowser, now a tad older, is still up to no good, this time without the help of Kamek. He steals the Yoshies' Super Happy Tree, which keeps the island peaceful. The theft converts the island into a picture book. A mere six baby Yoshies are not converted with everyone and everything else, and thanks to their bravery and determination, they are able to win back the Super Happy Tree, and keep Yoshi's Island safe from the Koopas for a pretty long while.

Back in Brooklyn, the Mario Bros. grow up to become carpenters. Shy Luigi pretty much keeps to himself while Mario gets himself a girlfriend, the pretty Pauline. One day, while at a construction site, Mario sees a giant ape called Donkey Kong, who has escaped from the jungle and into New York. The big ape takes Pauline and climbs to the top of the unfinished skyscraper, a la King Kong. Dodging old DK's barrels and fireballs, Mario makes it up onto the skyscraper and is able to rescue Pauline. He is asked to escort DK back to the jungle, but when he finally does, Donkey Kong Junior, DK's son, comes after him in an act of revenge and kicks Mario out of the jungle and back to Brooklyn, while DK and DK Jr. stay in the jungle.

When Mario returns to Brooklyn, he and Luigi decide that plumbing sounds more fun to do, and pays more, so they switch their job from being carpenters to being plumbers. Hardly any time passes when another strange thing happens-- their shop's pipes have creatures crawling through then and screwing them up! Mario and Luigi eventually rid of them all, but when they are finished, they hear something coming from inside a rather large green pipe.

Before they know it, they are sucked inside to Mushroomland, their former home, unknown to them. The particular part they end up in is the Mushroom Kingdom, where there is trouble. The amazed, shocked, surprised, shaken Bros. are told by the Mushroom King, a.k.a. the Chancellor, that his daughter Princess Peach Toadstool had been kidnapped by King Bowser Koopa, their old enemy, and that his kingdom had been taken over by Bowser's troops. When the king asks for help, the Bros. unwillingly agree, but figure "why not," and they begin their mission.

They discover that they can use the pipes to "warp" from one place to another, and can even get special powers. The now-Super Mario Bros. can double their size using Super Mushrooms, shoot fireballs by touching a magical fire flower, become invincible for a short period of time using a starman, and have an extra chance at finding the princess using a 1-up mushroom. They use the powers against Koopa's troops, which include Koopa Troopas, Bullet Bills, Goombas, Cheep-Cheeps, Hammer Brothers, and Buzzy Beetles. The Super Mario Bros. rescue Toad, Peach's head mushroom retainer, from a Bowser-disguised Koopa troop, and finally defeat the actual Bowser and rescue the princess, restoring peace to the kingdom.

But the peace doesn't last long, for Koopa quickly creates havoc again and kidnaps Toad and Princess Toadstool once more. Plus, he has added new creatures to his platoons and has replaced some super powers with poisonous mushrooms. The evil turtle king even extends his dangerous obstacle course into thirteen sections. But still, Luigi and Mario save the day, and King Koopa leaves the Mushroom Kingdom, running off waving a white towel showing surrender. All is actually well for a time.

One night, Mario dreams of a dreamland and a cry for help from the reign of a villain called Wart, made by a sufferer of the frog's obviously evil deeds. Wart supposedly hates vegetables, and that's where Mario wakes up. The next day, on a picnic with Luigi, Peach, and Toad, Mario tells them of his mysterious dream. His friends tell him that it's just a dream, and not real.

After eating, they start on their way back home, but an unusual cave with a red door on it catches Mario's attention. It reminds him of the door to the dreamland in his dream. He opens it, revealing Sub-Con, the Land of Dreams. The four start on a new journey through the seven sections of the Land of Dreams, beating up on a whole new cast of foes, and using new items such as a magic carpet and a heart, which could make them as strong as they could get. The plumbers, the retainer, and the princess finally meet up with Wart and take the captives' advice by throwing veggies at the frog, and sure enough, they are able to defeat him and save Sub-Con.

Meanwhile, Princess Daisy of Sarasaland has been kidnapped by the evil space alien Tatanga and is about to become his bride if something is not done. Mario, the hero that he is, sets out to rescue her, as she is an old friend of his and the new love interest of Luigi. He eventually saves her after almost doing so three other times, fighting another whole new cast of foes and using even more new super powers like the superball, the Sky Pop, and the Sub Pop. Using the Sky Pop, he drops her off in Sarasaland, where she and Luigi spend some time together.

Mario heads back to the Mushroom Kingdom to his Peach, as he and Pauline have broken up since the times of Donkey Kong, but he returns only to find more trouble awaiting him, this time at the Mushroom Kingdom Hospital. There he must stop quickly spreading viruses with new antidote pills. With the help of Nurse Toadstool, Mario once again stops the chaos. Luigi eventually returns to Mushroomland, and again, everything is back to normal, which doesn't bother anybody. But not for long . . .

Everyone thinks that King Koopa has left Mushroomland for good, and then, he and his troops attack! Bowser has come back with his dangerous and just plain awful Koopalings, a.k.a. the Koopa Kids. The Koopa Kids consist of Iggy, Roy, Larry, Lemmy, Morton Junior, Wendy O., and Ludwig Von. Each kid has his or her own doomship, giant flying vehicles that are bad news for heroes. They each take over one of Mushroomland's Mushroom Worlds, all except for the Mushroom Kingdom, Princess Toadstool and the Mushroom King's kingdom, and Dark World, the Koopas' own kingdom, the captured kingdoms being Grass Land, Koopahari Desert, Water Kingdom, Giant Island, Sky World, Ice Land, and Pipe Maze. Bowser decides to hide out in the Dark World. Using new super powers, like raccoon power and the frog suit, while using traditional ones like fire power and invincibility, Mario and Luigi stop the Koopas, rescue the princess, who is kidnapped after their journey is early completed, and once again restore peace to the land.

After beating back the Koopas in their most recent adventure, Mario and Luigi, along with Peach, vacation in Dinosaur Land on Yoshi's Island, where Mario's first adventure took place, for some well-deserved rest. But once again, the determined Koopas take Princess Toadstool, and also take seven Yoshies and seal them in eggs. With the help from new dinosaur friend Yoshi, the green dino we know best and love today, and also even more neoteric super powers like a magical yellow cape and a power balloon, Mario and Luigi save Peach and the kidnapped Yoshies from Bowser, who they must defeat in his new Clown Copter, and his seven bratty Koopalings. They celebrate at Yoshi's House and finish their relaxing vacation, and then go back home to Mushroomland.

But Mario can't stand the incessant peace for long and soon becomes bored. When Peach sees Mario's boredom, she asks Lakitu, a neutral Koopa, to organize a go-kart race. He does, and sets up tracks on places like Bowser's Castle and in Vanilla Lake. It lifts Mario's spirits and he comes out on top of the seven other racers, who are made up of Luigi, Peach, Toad, DK Jr., Bowser, Yoshi, and a Koopa Troopa. For the award, Peach decides to give Mario his own land and castle. Although jealous, Luigi never says anything.

But as soon as Mario settles in and decides to go on a walk, Mario's envious ex-best friend from his childhood, Wario, takes over the castle and scatters the Six Golden Coins that open the castle's lock across Mario Land, which Wario also plans to rule. Each coin is guarded by one of Wario's minions. Mario vows to save his land and his castle. He uses super powers to help him, this time with ones like a flying rabbit carrot. Mario retrieves the Six Golden Coins, beats back Wario, reclaims his castle, and saves his land. But rest does not await our plumber for much of a lengthy amount of time.

When Mario visits everyone back in the Mushroom Kingdom, Princess Peach asks him and Yoshi, who is also visiting, to rescue Prince Pine and King Fret from the mischievous Koopas in Jewelry Land, not too far away. Mario and Yoshi reluctantly agree. This time, they kick Koopa tail using the Super Scope, a bazooka-type weapon. When they finally defeat Bowser, the Koopa Kids, and their allies and rescue the king and prince, though, the Super Scope self-destructs, meaning that they won't be able to use it when fighting evil anymore. Mario has once again saved the day, again with the help of Yoshi.

Meanwhile, totally unrelated to Mario, a new adventure has popped up for Wario, who has gone on a quest for riches on Kitchen Island. In the end, a genie finally gives Wario his very own castle to go along with his statue of Princess Toadstool in return for the money Wario found along the way. But that do-gooder Mario comes up and steals back the Princess Toadstool statue! Wario is angry, but doesn't bother to go after him. Instead, he hangs around his castle. But back to Mario. Koopa creeps have come back again and invaded the sewer pipes, and Mario ends up saving the sewer again, this time without his brother. But while Mario is away, Luigi, Toad, Peach, and Yoshi decide to brush up on their tennis skills, and when Mario returns, he, along with Bowser and DK Jr., decide to hold another truce for a day and have a tennis tournament, which ends up as a seven-way-tie (go figure).

Luigi goes back to Sarasaland for a spring break with Daisy while Mario and Peach hang out at Mario's Pad. Peach wants to plant flowers in Mario's yard, so while Mario goes for some gardening materials inside his house, Peach digs up the wildflowers, only to keep them instead of trashing them as they are pretty. Suddenly, though, Bowser swoops down in his Clown Copter and captures the princes AGAIN. Mario goes after her to Bowser's newly remodeled Keep, and fights for her for the billionth time, high on top of Bowser's throne room chandeliers. Their duel is interrupted by a giant sword called Exor, who crashes into Bowser's Keep, and holding Smithy, a villain obsessed with controlling the world (he's even worse than Bowser). Mario goes on another quest to retrieve the seven Star Road pieces that keeps peace in Mushroomland, this time with the help of a cloud named Mallow, Geno the doll, Peach, and even Bowser (he's desperate to get his Keep back). They defeat Smithy and find all of the Star Road pieces,
and it is reformed.

Princess Toadstool soon decides to get her own castle, so she packs her bags and bids her father the Chancellor and her grandmother a fond farewell, and moves into a castle with a stained glass window of herself on the front and her very own go-kart course, Royal Raceway. She asks Mario to come over, as she has made a cake for him for helping her move. He gets there only to find that Bowser has sealed herself and her retainers, including Toad, inside the many paintings in her castle, along with the castle's protection stars, which there are 120 of. With them, Bowser is able to keep control of the castle. Mario vows to get them back and save the castle and its prisoners. Three new power-ups, the wing cap, the invisibility cap, and the metal cap help him, along with the Bob-Omb Buddies. He meets up with Bowser three times, and beats him the last time for good. Peach and her retainers are released from the paintings (the stained glass window in particular), and Mario finally gets his cake. To top it all o
ff, he also gets to meet up with Yoshi again for a short time.

Luigi soon returns home, and gets to check out Peach's new palace, and the racetrack. That makes him suggest they have another go-kart race. They agree to have one. Along with the Bros. and Peach, other contenders, made up of Toad, Yoshi, Bowser, Wario, and Donkey Kong, show up, and Lakitu agrees to referee. With a lot of new courses to race on, the great competition is successful and everybody ends up winning at least one race. Everyone gets a prize, and return from where they came from to enjoy it. But Wario, being the greedy guy he is, thinks that what he got wasn't enough, so he goes after even more treasure. He is successful, and finally decides to quiet down for a while, as all of the rest of the Mario cast have. What else lies ahead for the cast of the Mario games? Guess we'll just have to wait and see . . .